


A Blood-Stained Melody

by nyakamotoyutaa



Category: K-pop, NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Zombie Apocalypse, Blood and Violence, Chenji if you squint, Enemies to Friends to Lovers, M/M, Minor Norenmin, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-18 07:07:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29485758
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nyakamotoyutaa/pseuds/nyakamotoyutaa
Summary: The beginning of the end for Mark Lee was accompanied by the light sounds of his mom making breakfast in the kitchen and birds chirping in the trees behind the window.
Relationships: Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee
Kudos: 7





	A Blood-Stained Melody

**Author's Note:**

> hi all !! 
> 
> this is my first attempt at writing fic and i'm really excited but also super nervous so bear with me! i originally intended to post this around Halloween but never got around to it and after months of letting it sit in my drafts, here's the first chapter! im not sure how many chapters this will have so we will see as we go along :) zombies and zombie apocalypse au's have always been a favorite of mine, so here's one for all of my fellow horror lovers.
> 
> if you are not a fan of or are sensitive to blood, gore, violence, death, etc. PLEASE do not read this - it will be graphic !! additional warnings will be added before the relevant chapters.
> 
> enjoy!

If you were to ask the average person how they thought the world would end, they would probably say something like an asteroid spontaneously colliding with the earth or the eventual death of the sun in millions of years. Perhaps they would say something human-caused and preventable, like global warming or nuclear warfare. Whatever they would say, they would be wrong - the end of the world was something unprecedented, something thought impossible. There were no warnings or predictions, no time for final acts of love or forgiveness, not a singular moment where everything came crashing down all at once. Instead, the end was a crescendo, an accumulation of sound building in intensity and speed, leaving a ringing in the ears and a deep-seated fear in the chest. The end of the world was not conventional, but, it was the end all the same. 

The beginning of the end for Mark Lee was accompanied by the light sounds of his mom making breakfast in the kitchen and birds chirping in the trees behind the window. Mark lay there, too tired to open his eyes to the harsh morning light. He contemplated feigning illness even if just to skip his first couple of classes, but determined that his mother would never buy it, and squinted open his eyes to gaze at the ceiling. The glow-in-the-dark stars plastered above seemed to twinkle down at him despite the sun being up, almost encouraging him to get ready for the day. He groaned, rolling over in bed only to slam onto the floor, rattling his bedside table.

“Mark, are you alright?” he heard his mother call from downstairs. 

“Yeah-” he called back, voice slightly muffled by the carpet, “-just fell out of bed.”

He heard his mom laugh cheerily in response and he pulled a face at the floor in the direction of the kitchen. Noticing the time, Mark quickly began scurrying around the room, gathering his things for school and practice, while attempting to put his clothes on at the same time. After nearly tripping and falling again on a stray shoe, he went to the bathroom to straighten out his hair and brush his teeth before bounding down the stairs to make it out the door in time to catch the bus. 

“Good morning, sweetheart,” his mother greeted, eyes on the laptop screen in front of her watching the morning news, coffee in hand, “Don’t forget, your brother is coming home today, so I need you to be home before it gets too dark, alright?”

“Yeah, I’ll make sure I’m home before then.” Mark grabbed a slice of toast from the table, moving to the door to slide his shoes on. 

“No kiss goodbye?” his mom called after him, a slight teasing tone to her voice. Mark rolled his eyes, hand on the doorknob, before making a kissing noise back at her which she responded to with a similar noise and a light chuckle. He pulled the door closed behind him and began quickly walking down the street. Once he was at the bus stop, he spotted a familiar head of golden brown hair through the small crowd of other students and weaved between them to stand next to him. Seeing Mark come up, the other boy smiled, eyes creasing, and waved at him in greeting. 

“Morning!” Jeno chirped, “I would ask if you slept well this weekend but, from the looks of it, I would say that the answer was no.”

Lee Jeno was Mark's closest friend and fellow member of the basketball team; they had been playing together since elementary school, after Mark’s family moved from Canada. Jeno was tall and handsome, with his signature eye smile, and was probably the friendliest person on the planet. He was the first person to talk to Mark after he moved, and they had been friends ever since. 

Mark smiled sarcastically back at him, replying, “I stayed up all night writing my lab paper for chem, so I’m kinda brain-dead at the moment.” 

Jeno sighed, “I swear, one day you’ll die overworking yourself like that.” Mark only shrugged in response, and Jeno, still smiling, reached over to pat him on the shoulder in gentle encouragement. The two talked aimlessly for a few more minutes while the bus rolled up to the stop, opening its doors with a quiet hiss.

Mark and Jeno boarded the almost full school bus; the early hour kept it from being too loud, the voices of the other students kept to soft whispers and giggles as others attempted to cram in the last few minutes of sleep against the bus windows. Mark was one of those people, immediately leaning his head against the cool glass, eyes sliding shut against the morning light. He was seconds from falling back into the soft recesses of sleep when bright laughter sounded from the front of the bus - a laugh he would recognize anywhere and would probably follow him to the grave. Mark groaned, knowing that he would not be spared a moment's rest that morning and sat back up as the three new arrivals came down the aisle towards where he and Jeno were seated. The one in front slid into the booth directly in front of him and, turning, greeted them with a, “What’s good, nerds? Glad to see you’re both just as lame as always.”

“Good morning, Donghyuck,” Jeno smiled back, unfazed by the other boys' comment while Mark chose to respond with an eye roll. Lee Donghyuck, with his recently dyed rainbow hair and honey-colored skin, was sharp-tongued and quick-witted - among other things that perhaps weren’t too nice for Mark to say - and was one of the single most irritating creatures to ever walk the Earth. He and Mark were not friends by any meaning of the word, but because of mutual circles, they had been shoved together in what Jeno would probably call fate and what Mark would call divine punishment. 

“Are you not going to say good morning to me? That’s pretty rude of you, Mark Lee.” 

Mark lifted his eyes to meet Donghyuck’s, which were alight with mischief and accompanied by a teasing smirk. 

“Morning” he said curtly, sliding his eyes away back to the street below, watching absently as three police cars sped by, the sounds of their wailing sirens muffled by the bus windows and the gently rising volume of the other students on the bus. He could feel Donghyuck's eyes bore into him a moment longer before his attention moved towards the boys in the adjacent seat he had come in with, who were currently leaning over the aisle to show Jeno something on one of their phones. 

“Isn’t it crazy? People can do the most unexpected things sometimes,” remarked the boy holding the phone, his pink hair falling down into his eyes. Jeno merely hummed in agreement, eyes trained on the screen as he followed along with the news unfolding from that morning. Na Jaemin was the school‘s student council vice president and Resident Prince, or so Mark had heard from girls in his class and Jeno, and had dyed his hair pink for a fundraiser supporting breast cancer research. When Jaemin had told them his idea, Mark had thought it was a little extreme, but deserved some respect, because at least it showed how serious he was about it. 

“Unexpected? More like psychotic!” The boy next to Jaemin scoffed, “I mean, who in their right mind would go full Hannibal Lecter at 7 in the morning in the middle of downtown and then start trying to attack the police?” 

“Well, I would say that’s kind of the definition of unexpected, don’t you think, Injunnie?” 

The boy’s only response was to lock Jaemin in a chokehold, which he valiantly tried to break out of until he gave in with a quick three taps to the other’s arm. The boy, Huang Renjun, was a good few inches shorter and skinnier than Jaemin but, as Jeno liked to say, he made up for it with inexplicable brute strength and an aggression only someone his size could contain. Mark would say he was closest to Renjun out of the three because they had had a couple advanced classes together over the years and had bonded over their shared disdain for Donghyuck's antics and love for science. 

The rest of the bus had begun to wake up, more quiet conversations filling the air as they neared the school. The topic of conversation next to Mark had steered away from the news and towards a project Jeno and Jaemin had for their english class, so Mark took the liberty to put his headphones on and try to get a few moments of quiet in before the day began. 

Soon enough, the bus had stopped in front of the school and the group of boys had made their way off, moving through the front gate. The crowd of students was teeming with life, many of them with their eyes trained on their phones as the news from that morning circulated through the media. Jaemin, Renjun, and Jeno were now discussing it once again, and arguing over the correct order of body parts to eat if you were to become a cannibal. Mark watched Renjun and Jaemin fight over whether you would save the brain or heart for last, when he felt an arm swing around to rest on his shoulder. He looked down at the arm in question and followed it back to its owner, who was grinning at him with one eyebrow raised, almost in a challenge. 

Mark felt his face turn into a frown, “Can I help you, Donghyuck?” 

“Well, since you’re offering,” Donghyuck leaned in, breath hot on his ear, “mind if I copy your history homework? I forgot to do it.”

Mark pulled away, causing the other boy to stumble slightly on the curb. 

“And why would I do that?” Mark scoffed, crossing his arms to glare down at him. 

Donghyuck looked back, mouth in an exaggerated pout, “Because if you don’t, I’ll have to get Jeno involved.”

Mark felt his frown deepen, and turned his face away from the boy to look up, weighing his options. Though the chances of them being caught cheating were relatively high, having to deal with Jeno’s passive aggressive attempts at mediating would be  _ much _ more of a pain. Despite not being able to see him, Mark knew Donghyuck was smirking up at him because he knew he would get what he wanted. 

“Fine,” Mark groaned, head tilting back down, “but only this one time, okay? I don’t need to be called out for cheating again because of you.”

Donghyuck beamed, moving to sling his arm over Mark’s shoulder once again. Reluctantly, Mark walked with him, tuning him out as he joined the ongoing argument between Jaemin and Renjun. Mark turned his eyes back to the sky, where he watched two police helicopters pass over the school in the direction of downtown. 

“I wonder what’s going on,” he mumbled, “I’ve never seen so many police heading towards downtown before...”

He felt Donghyuck turn to say something in response, but was interrupted by a loud screeching coming from behind them. All five boys turned to look when something slammed into Mark, causing him to knock into Donghyuck who proceeded to dramatically fall to the ground. For a second, Mark panicked, heart racing, wondering who or what had jumped on him when he saw a shock of lime green hair and registered the loud, squeaking laughter in his ear.

“Geez, Chenle,” Mark sighed with a growing smile, “you nearly gave me a heart attack.” The younger boy untangled his arms from around Mark's neck, smiling wide and still giggling. 

“Morning!” he chirped, “I missed you guys this weekend.”

“You saw us two days ago,” Renjun said, reaching out to put the younger boy in a much gentler headlock than he had used on Jaemin earlier. Zhong Chenle was a year below them, but had quickly become friends with them through Renjun, who was another Chinese exchange student. Chenle was bright and full of mischief, and he melded in easily with his like-minded seniors; so much so that he had agreed to Jaemin’s fundraiser idea in an instant and, without waiting for further instructions, had opted to dye his hair lime green. The rest of the group proceeded to greet him, ruffling his hair while he was pulled along by Renjun. Mark looked on at the boys fondly and, sensing a quiet presence at his side, turned to greet the youngest and shyest member of their group. 

“Hey, ‘Sungie,” Mark smiled, “how was your weekend?”

Jisung smiled back, and quietly began reciting the details of his weekend to Mark, which mostly included playing video games at Chenle’s house and exclusively eating cup noodles. Park Jisung was the only freshman of the group, and had joined them only a few weeks prior after he was elected for student government and was promptly adopted by Jaemin. He and Chenle had become quick friends after they had recited old Vines in perfect unison during lunch one day, and, now, they were essentially inseparable. The rowdy group of boys trailed into the school building, splitting up at the stairs as the eldest five started to climb, while Jisung and Chenle moved down to the end of the bottom floor. Mark and Donghyuck stopped at the second door, waving goodbye to the other three members who continued down the hallway to their respective classrooms. 

Once inside, Mark led Donghyuck to his desk, setting down his backpack and pulling out the folder containing his homework. 

“Here,” Mark said, holding out the paper for him, “just make sure you don’t copy it word for word.” 

“Aye, aye, captain,” Donghyuck replied with a mock salute, taking the papers away and sitting at his own desk a row away. Mark watched him begin to write, noticing the way the light from the windows made his skin seem to glow, like warm honey. Realizing he was staring, Mark turned away quickly, putting his head down on the desk and watching as other students walked by, greeting each other and laughing. He closed his eyes, letting the sounds of the teeming classroom wash over him as white noise. He stayed like that for a few minutes until he felt Donghyuck poke the top of his head, signaling that he was done with Mark's homework.

“Thanks, Canada, I really appreciate it,” said Donghyuck, an uncharacteristically gentle smile on his face. 

“No problem,” replied Mark cooly, “and don’t forget next time.” 

The other boy rolled his eyes at the scolding, face dropping back into annoyance and moved away to talk to a group of students gathered around a desk looking at a phone. They seemed enraptured by whatever it was they were watching, but were distracted by Donghyuck coming up and asking them about a drama episode that had aired the night before. Some of the others began to jump in with their opinions, but were interrupted by their teacher walking in, calming the class in preparation for the morning announcements. Mark tuned it out, opting instead to gaze out of the window at nothing, head resting on his palm in mock pensiveness. He felt as though the world was quiet that day, almost like it was holding its breath, waiting for something to happen. 

The first something of the day came from someone, probably Donghyuck, loudly dropping their book on the floor, dispelling some of the quiet of the room and causing a few other students to giggle. His teacher sighed in exasperation, and turned towards the board to begin the lesson. She had only got about fifteen minutes in when she was interrupted by the classroom door slamming open, revealing a panicked-looking boy who fell back against it with a loud thud. The rest of the students remained in their seats, eyes trained questioningly on the unexpected arrival.

“Excuse me,” began the teacher, “are you alright? I don’t believe you’re in the right classroom.” 

The boy whom Mark recognized as being Daniel Kang, a senior and fellow member of the basketball team, sat on the floor with his left hand clenched around his right forearm in pain. Mark wondered why Daniel was even in this building; senior classes were held in C block, which was halfway across campus and separated from the rest of the school by the courtyard. Daniel didn’t answer and only stared blankly down at his sweater, stained a dark color around where he was squeezing his arm. He was visibly shaking, full-body tremors as if he was cold, but Mark could tell even from across the classroom that he was quite the opposite - Daniel was dripping sweat and flushed a bright, feverish red. His hyperventilating became heaving coughs causing him to double over due to the force of his retching. Incredulously, the students watched as Daniel began to spit up a dark red liquid, huge drops of it spraying across his own uniform and the floor, forming a growing puddle of what Mark realized in growing terror was blood. 

Alarmed, Mark’s teacher moved towards the boy to help, calling out for someone to call an ambulance. Mark felt something tighten in his chest, his body trying to warn him that something was seriously wrong. As he started to stand, Daniel began to convulse on the floor, eyes rolling back and foam the color of his own blood bubbling at his mouth. The teacher again called on one of the students to help, but they were all frozen, watching the boy writhe on the floor. Mark stood, sound starting to bleed into his senses and raising in volume: distant sounds of police sirens, helicopters flying overhead, the rise of screams from the school courtyard, the rush of students running down the hallway, the sounds the boy was making as he thrashed, finally going still, the sound of his own pounding heartbeat. Several other students were also standing, looking on the scene in apprehensive confusion and mild horror, unable to move. Mark watched in a breathless daze as his teacher leaned down to check for the boy's pulse, just as his eyes snapped open as if he’d been shocked. In one motion, the boy pushed her to the floor, mouth opening wide. 

When the world finally released its breath, it came in the form of a blood-curdling scream not unlike the one coming from the teacher, pinned to the floor with Daniel’s jaws closed around her neck.

**Author's Note:**

> thank you so much for reading! please leave a comment, kudos, and share if you enjoyed! 
> 
> you can ask me questions on curiouscat: @nyakamotoyutaa
> 
> next up: scream


End file.
